Southern Tier Raspberry Wheat Beer

Brewed by Southern Tier Brewing Company
Style: Fruit Beer
Lakewood, New York USA

Not being a fruit or wheat beer guy, I thought it was not to bad. I almost think it could have used a bit more Raspberry flavor.

Mild essence of raspberry, hazy yellow, tiny white head. Flavour of raspberry is faint, almost like cream soda, not much in the wheat department. Light bodied, not overly sweet, spritzy. Fair.

This beer is waaaaayyy too carbonated. I mean come on. When it takes 5 minutes to pour so as to not overflow you know there is a problem. Very light raspberry notes on the backside and full on carbonated disaster on the front. Clearly, Southern Tier’s worst offering. They should rethink this one...

Out of a bottle. Smelled like sweet (but not overboard) raspberries. Flavor was mainly raspberries and some sour wheats. Admittedly, this beer was crafted wholly to feature the fruit flavor, but it wasn’t sickening in its sweetness and was a pleasant bottle. Wouldn’t be an everyday beer, but you can find a lot worse from the "big" beers.

bottle poured a light golden in color with streaming carbination and a frothy two finger white head that faded back to become a thin layer with good retention. there is a decent amount of fine particles floating about in the carbination so it is not totally filtered. aroma has the berry jam i expected with some sour funk and wheat. mouth feel is lighter again as expected with plenty of carbination on the tongue that i actually appreciate in this type of beer. flavor has some tartness to the berry but not too much and some yeasty wheat kicking in. does not have that medicinal quality and although it is sweet still has some crispness to it. the yeast thing is a little odd but overall i thought this to be a pretty good fruit brew.

Medium gold body with a bright white head. The aroma is the expected fresh raspberry with some bread crust. The taste has some light raspberry seeds and light black pepper spice. The finish also has some raspberry jelly. The body is too highly carbonated and it has some distracting quality from the light wheat beer. Actually, this is one of the better fruit wheats I have tried. Good for the style.

Grumble, grumble. Another fruit wheat beer. Joy. Pours a clear gold with a nice white head. Nose is like sticking my nose in a basket of raspberries: very true scent of the fruit. So far so good. But now the part that really matters: the flavor. Yowzas. Tarty goodness. Assaulting raspberry flavor here. No wheat characteristics. Nothing else at all besides it. Just stringent, overpowering, raspberry flavors. Good God. It almost tastes like some cereal with loads of artificial flavoring and coloring. Feel is standard. Expected liquid feel with a strong carbonation. Sorry. But I have to give this a 3 on the drinkability. The raspberries are way too overpowering and totally detract from the overall experience. Another example of the difficulties of mixing fruit and beer. And nowhere in this whole beer do I find any what ale characteristics. Balance is a hard thing to accomplish.

Bottle. Pours straw with a white head. Fruity and wheaty nose with raspberry notes. Medium/thin palate. Flavor is very sweet and fruity, mostly raspberry, and some wheaty/doughy malt. Tart and dry finish. Not an awful beer.